Allergic rhinitis in India: an overview

Abstract

Prevalence of allergic diseases including asthma, rhinitis, anaphylaxis, food, drug or insect allergy, is rising worldwide affecting about 10-25% of population being one of the top ten reasons for visit to primary care physicians. Though it often adversely affects the quality of life; in India allergic rhinitis is often regarded as trivial disease and patients fail to attribute the ill health to its symptoms. In study on children with allergic rhinitis nasal symptoms and rhinoconjunctivitis were present and there was consistent rise in its prevalence. Proportion of blockers is higher compared to sneeze runners. Nasal obstruction was the most common symptom and blockers had significantly more sensitization to polyvalent house dust, house dust mites and fungi, whereas sneeze-runners had more sensitization to pollens, asthma was the most common comorbid condition present,  In majority of children had one or more comorbidity, allergic rhinitis adversely affected behaviour, work performance and life style of patients.